Watch Industry SITREP - August 2025

Tudor In The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, Tariff Drama Heats Up, Keanu’s Stolen Watches Coming Home, Hans Wilsdorf Revelations, Fake Cartiers, & Facebook Marketplace Watch Crime 

By Benjamin Lowry

It is once again time for the W.O.E. SITREP, or Situation Report, our monthly amalgamation of news and events related to watches, intelligence, national security, and the military, all coupled with our razor-sharp commentary. 

It’s been a big August, and this month’s SITREP stretches far and wide to include not only further tariff drama but also some great watch spotting in Jack Carr’s new Terminal List show, uplifting Rolex-related news for Keanu Reeves, a potential bombshell revelation for Hans Wilsdorf, and, as always, a heapin’ helpin’ of watch crime that, for the first time in months, does not include Rolex-stealing ladies of the night. There’s always next month. 

Let’s dig in. 

Jack Carr’s New The Terminal List: Dark Wolf Series Replete With Deep Watch Cuts 

A screen grab from the show shows Taylor Kitsch’s character, Ben Edwards, wearing a Tudor Pelagos on the OEM rubber strap. (Photo Credit: Amazon)

This past Wednesday, Jack Carr’s The Terminal List: Dark Wolf premiered. Similar to the original series, Carr and the production team were sure to pack the spinoff with lots of great watch content, including a standard Tudor Pelagos worn by lead actor Taylor Kitsch, who plays Ben Edwards, a former SEAL turned Ground Branch Officer. Dark Wolf is a prequel to the preexisting season of The Terminal List, providing the backstory for James Reece’s best friend in Edwards. 

A Waltham wrist compass makes a surprise appearance in episode one of The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. (Photo Credit: Amazon Prime)

Carr is famously attentive to details in his books, from firearms to tactical equipment to watches, and this trend has carried over into the onscreen adaptations. We have profiled the role of watches in the Terminal List series, read HERE. 

Along with W.O.E., Carr was also recently involved in Tudor’s Splashdown video documentary detailing the role played by US Navy Underwater Demolition Teams during the Apollo recovery missions. A dedicated student of Naval Special Warfare history, Carr is a big Tudor fan, making the inclusion of a Pelagos in the new show less than a big surprise. In some of the GWOT tactical scenes, Kitsch wears a G-Shock, and the first episode also offers up a W.C.C. wrist compass being gifted by James Reece to his lifelong friend and SEAL teammate, Raife Hastings. 

Was Rolex Founder Hans Wilsdorf A Nazi Spy? Declassified WWII British Intelligence Documents Unveiled 

Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported the discovery of WWII-era MI5 documents indicating Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf’s possible associations with the Nazi party. Dated between 1941 and 1943, the documents state that Wilsdorf's activities at the time were “most objectionable”, leading him to be “suspected of espionage”. Born in Bavaria in 1881, Wilsdorf moved to London in 1903, eventually marrying a British woman, becoming a naturalized citizen, and founding Rolex in the UK before registering the business in Geneva in 1919. 

Rolex HQS in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo Credit: WatchPro)

The narrative that Wilsdorf may have had connections to, or at least sympathy for, the Nazi party is not new; a 2024 book written by historian Pierre-Yves Donze described Wilsdorf as a “fervent admirer” of the Nazi party, citing a Geneva police report and allegations that Wilsdorf’s brother was tied to the Nazi propaganda machine. Of course, the implications are serious, and Rolex has responded by commissioning “...an independent, authoritative team of historians who are carrying out research into the exact role of Hans Wilsdorf during this period.” Rolex, which indicated it was aware of the documents, plans to publicly release the results of its investigation when complete. 

For now, we’re waiting to see if the complete source documents are brought into the light of day, and when a fuller picture is available, W.O.E. plans to write a Dispatch discussing the facts and sequence of events.

Switzerland Backhand Slapped With 39% Tariffs 

(Photo Credit: WatchPro)

Earlier this month, despite several talks with US officials and a desperate last-minute phone call between Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and President Trump, Switzerland was hit with a 39% tariff for goods entering the United States. The figure is the highest for a US tariff in Europe and the fourth-highest globally. Coming into effect on 07 August, and assuming something better can’t be worked out, the tariff will have devastating effects for many of Switzerland’s primary exports to the US, including gold, jewellery, machine tools, and, of course, watches. 

For watch nerds, any event that at the very least makes our beloved Swiss timepieces significantly more expensive and at worst leads to brands shutting their doors is bad news. Major watch media outlets have commented on the potential repercussions, but suffice it to say that many brands have already responded with catalog-wide price increases, while others, dependent on US imports, have simply ceased production until the situation changes. 

(Photo Credit: James Rupley/W.O.E.)

Earlier this week, the Swiss postal service also suspended shipments to the US, citing the challenges and delays that would be caused by the hastily introduced tariffs. The Swiss are too polite to say it like this, but the tariff situation is a little bit of a clusterfuck at the moment. 

Chilean Government To Return Keanu Reeves’s Stolen Watches 

(Photo Credit: PDI Chile)

In January, we discussed the recovery of actor Keanu Reeves’s stolen Rolex Submariner from a criminal organization by the Chilean government, which had been stolen in Los Angeles in 2023. Earlier this month, six watches belonging to Reeves began their return trip to the actor after being turned over to the FBI at the American embassy in a ceremony celebrating the partnership between US and Chilean law enforcement. The Rolex Submariner that made the news was one of the set of watches the actor gifted to the stunt crew he worked with on “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Each was engraved with the stuntman’s name and “Thank you, JW4, 2021, The John Wick Five.” 

The recovery of Keanu Reeves’ Sub is a testament to the global nature of organized crime. (Photo Credit: Starz Entertainment/PDI Chile)

While we are glad to see the watches on their way back to an actor that is by all reports one of Hollywood’s good guys, we can’t help but wonder what became of the rest of the $7M worth of stolen goods originally taken from Reeves’s home as well as the nature of the journey traveled by the stolen watches from the hills above Los Angeles all the way to Chile. It’s easy to think of watch-related crime as small-time; a perpetrator grabbing a Rolex from someone’s wrist at an upscale cafe before heading off to the pawn shop, but the reality is that some of these criminal organizations are sophisticated, international, and well-connected.  

Facebook Marketplace Watch Theft A Solid Reminder That Common Sense Remains Uncommon 

The pair arrested in connection with the Facebook Marketplace luxury watch robbery. (Photo Credit: Franklin County Sheriff's Department)

In Ohio, two men have been arrested in connection with a robbery where a minor met with them to sell unnamed luxury watches with a reported value of $11,100. The minor met the men in a Raising Cane's parking lot and hopped into their Honda sedan’s front seat before one of the men produced a firearm from the backseat and demanded the watches. For encouragement, the driver allegedly stated, “Come on, bro.” 

No shade against Cane’s, but a fast food restaurant might not be the best spot to sell a watch for over $11k. (Photo Credit: Raising Cane’s)

Surveillance video from the parking lot quickly led authorities to the driver, who, demonstrating great mental fortitude, had already posted himself wearing the stolen watch on social media and holding a gun similar to the one used in the robbery. The other man was also arrested after a brief pursuit during which he drove over a deputy’s foot. Ouch. Luckily, other than a LE officer who won’t be winning the Turkey Trot this year, no one was seriously injured, but the event is another sobering reminder that common sense should probably be used when meeting strangers in public to sell luxury watches for cash. Acknowledging the tastiness of the tendies, the Cane’s parking lot might not be the best spot, and we are left wondering how a minor ended up with one or more watches worth eleven grand in the first place. 

Over $4M in Fake Cartier Watches Seized By CBP In Indianapolis

CBP photo showcasing the fake Cartiers. (Photo Credit: US Customs and Border Protection)

On 08 August, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers inspected a shipment in Indianapolis containing what appeared to be 30 Cartier watches. Suspicious of its Hong Kong origins and the appearance of the Cartier trademark, the officers consulted with CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise, which determined the watches were not genuine. While the likelihood is that these bejeweled Cartier models were not “super reps” but rather something intended for the inside of a trench coat on Canal Street, CBP values these seizures based on the MSRP of the genuine article, which is, in this case, $4.2M, a misleading figure considering the street value of the fakes could easily be $100 or less. 

After the seizure, CBP indicated, “For the last three years, the top commodities seized for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement with the highest total MSRP have been (1) Jewelry, (2) Watches, and (3) Handbags/Wallets.” This trend once again showcases the power of watches as instruments of money laundering and illicit trade, but also the international nature of these watch-related crimes. While it’s unlikely anyone from the W.O.E. community would fall for a rhinestone-covered Cartier, this shipment is likely a drop in the bucket in comparison to how many fakes successfully make their way into the United States. If you’re ever looking at a watch deal that is too good to be true, it probably isn’t. 

Final Thoughts 

At the end of the day, August’s SITREP is an endearing reminder of why we do this: because watches don’t just tell time, they tell stories. From Keanu’s soon-to-be returned luxury watch collection to Swiss boardrooms, from cartel safehouses to Midwestern CBP shipping hubs, timepieces sit at the intersection of culture, crime, and geopolitics in ways luxury brands never could have imagined. 

This month marks a full year of the SITREP, and rest assured, we’ll keep doing what we do: separating fact from fiction and adding a healthy dose of commentary (and snark) along the way. Until next month—stay sharp, maintain situational awareness, and let us know in the comments what stories caught your attention.

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